The outcome of nuclear talks in Istanbul on April 14 justifies a diplomatic cheer. For the first time in years the parties — the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia, China and Iran — set no preconditions for engaging. The atmosphere was cordial. The parties agreed to embark on a sustained step-by-step process of reciprocal concessions to arrive at a negotiated settlement. Crucially, the parties recognised that the Nuclear No-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) offers a basis for a peaceful outcome — a principle that has eluded the West ever since it set out to deny Iran a uranium enrichment capability in the belief that this would be used to produce nuclear weapons.